The political abilities and peace-making attitude demonstrated by Ambrose (4th century) as governor of Liguria and Emilia led him to also be proclaimed archbishop of Milan, against his will and despit [+]
Francesco Albani was a much favoured pupil of Annibale Carracci. His success was partially due to mythological paintings such as The toilet of Venus (P1) and The judgement of Paris (P2), whose refined [+]
The Emperor Theodosius (4th century AD) prostrates himself before the Bishop of Milan, who absolves him in front of the cathedral and thus allows him to enter. The buildings are vaguely inspired by th [+]
This painting formed part of the collection of the Marquis of Castro-Serna (Madrid) where, according to Michel (1887) -who repeats information given by Alfonso de Stuers- it appeared in 1887 as a pend [+]
The artist has arranged the objects in the traditional manner, locating them in the immediate foreground in order to achieve greater visual impact. The result is a simple composition but one with a ma [+]
Cleopatra VII (r. 51-30 BCE) was the sovereign of Egypt and the last representative of its final royal family, the Ptolemaic dynasty. Feeling that all was lost after her armies and those of her Roman [+]
In the year 390 the Emperor Theodosius violently repressed the population of Thessaloniki, after which he returned to Milan where he was excommunicated by Saint Ambrose, who denied him entry to his ch [+]
Among the painters working in Madrid, Pereda possessed one of the most distinctive styles, which derived from his study of Flemish and Venetian painting and is evident in works that combine chromatic [+]
Charles II was born in 1661, the only son of Philip IV and his second wife (and niece), Mariana of Austria, to survive to adulthood. Charles succeeded his father in 1665 and died without an heir in 17 [+]
A profusion of cooking utensils and hearty meats -game birds fresh from the hunt and not yet dressed, a recently-killed lamb, a calf’s head, and other cuts- are laid out on a work surface, as if the p [+]
This work is a magnificent example of works from the middle period of Luca Giordano, the Italian artist known in Spains as Lucas Jordán. It shows the decorative character that predominated in Italian [+]
By 1599, Francisco Pacheco had already begun work on his Libro de descripción de verdaderos retratos de ilustres y memorables varones (Book of Descriptions of True Portraits of Illustrious and [+]
These two paintings were first shown in Amsterdam in 1858. On that occasion the sitters were identified as Lambert Witsen and his wife Sara Nuyts owing to the woman`s purported similarity to the portr [+]
A youthful looking angel with curly hair imperiously points out the path of freedom to an astonished Saint Peter, depicted as a man of advanced age confined in a prison. In the background, clad in a s [+]
Para su realización el pintor parece haber manejado alguna estampa italiana, propia del último manierismo, dando como resultado una composición algo anticuada para la fecha en que se pintó. Representa [+]
Born in Slovenia, Trevisani studied painting in Venice and moved to Rome around 1678. This depiction of Mary Magdalene, a work that belonged to Philip IV, combines a Roman classicism with Trevisani’s [+]
Luca Giordano decorated three spaces in the Casón, an outbuilding of the Buen Retiro Palace, Madrid. The first was the central hall, which still exists, where he painted the fresco Apotheosis o [+]
In 370 the Consul Probus appointed Saint Ambrose governor of the provinces of Liguria and Emilia in northern Italy. Valdés Leal depicts this secular episode in an interior with classical archit [+]